Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast has been accused of using AI-generated art in a recent promo image, leading one artist to cut ties with the company.
Earlier this week, the official Magic: The Gathering Twitter account shared an image showing off some upcoming cards, and while the cards are looking great, the picture they’re contained in looks a bit off. As numerous users pointed out, it looks like the image might have been, at least in part, generated by AI. It’s difficult to prove something like that, but a closer look at the image shows some strange elements which AI-generated images tend to have, so it is possible.
In reply to the original tweet, the MTG Twitter account wrote, “We understand confusion by fans given the style being different than card art, but we stand by our previous statement. This art was created by humans and not AI.” In response, artist Dave Rapoza, who has done art for Magic: The Gathering previously, as well as IP like Marvel and Destiny, quoted this tweet saying “And just like that, poof, I’m done working for wizards of the coast – you can’t say you stand against this then blatantly use AI to promote your products, emails sent, good bye you all!”